ChrisEV wrote:I thought I shouldn’t continuously run more than 12A on 14 gauge wire.

If you're looking to buy the EVSE that is the subject of this thread, you can set it to draw 10 or 11 or 12 amps, whatever number you're comfortable with on your 14 gauge wire. If you set it for only 8 amps, it would still charge twice as fast as your OEM Panasonic EVSE which is limited to just 8 amps at 120 volts

In the power panel, you would just need to move one wire to make your current outlet a 240 volt circuit. Nothing too complicated there

ChrisEV wrote:I thought I shouldn’t continuously run more than 12A on 14 gauge wire.

If you're looking to buy the EVSE that is the subject of this thread, you can set it to draw 10 or 11 or 12 amps, whatever number you're comfortable with on your 14 gauge wire. If you set it for only 8 amps, it would still charge twice as fast as your OEM Panasonic EVSE which is limited to just 8 amps at 120 volts

In the power panel, you would just need to move one wire to make your current outlet a 240 volt circuit. Nothing too complicated there

Don

Ah yes you’re right. I forgot that this EVSE is adjustable. I’d definately set it to 12A or less.

It looks like it's 14/2 wire by looking at the writing on the wire.

I did want to put up a security camera on my driveway and someone broke into my i-MIEV and took my 12V carseat and adaptor. It seems I had left my door unlocked so no damage was done but my wife is scared now. I'd need the 120V in the garage at this point.

Running a new circuit would be complicated as you'd have to cut open the ceiling/walls to run the wire and then patch it up. I can get 50% rebate from the government for EVSE electrical installation and for an approved EVSE so I will get some estimates to see how much those would be. A seperate 240V circuit for the car and 120V for other stuff would be ideal if money was no issue.

An adjustable 120V EVSE that you linked may be my best bet. It takes over 16 hours to charge from 2 bars to full at 8A. I think at 12A I should be able to charge from 7PM to 7AM as those are off peak hours M-F.

I think I recall you bought a used 2012, correct? Probably your biggest bang for the buck would be to ship your EVSE to the folks at EVSE Upgrade and have them convert it. You will get back an L1/L2 unit capable of 12 amps on either 120 or 240 *and* it will have adjustable current. If you're charging with that now, just the mod to 12 amps will speed up your recharge times on 120 volts by 50% - That *might be* all you need and a 240 volt circuit may not be needed

Don wrote:I think I recall you bought a used 2012, correct? Probably your biggest bang for the buck would be to ship your EVSE to the folks at EVSE Upgrade and have them convert it. You will get back an L1/L2 unit capable of 12 amps on either 120 or 240 *and* it will have adjustable current. If you're charging with that now, just the mod to 12 amps will speed up your recharge times on 120 volts by 50% - That *might be* all you need and a 240 volt circuit may not be needed

Don

Hi Don,

Yes I have a used 2012.

I've almost pulled the trigger on the EVSE Upgrade and I may do it eventually. My thoughts are:

1) Being in Canada the price is pretty expensive with the exchange rate and shipping to/from Canada is pricey as well. I am about 1.5 hours from Buffalo and it'd be cheaper to send it there but I am not planning going there anytime soon.2) For a similar price I can get a second EVSE and use the 8A one that came with the car for trips. I figure 8A would be safe plugging into hotels and others places, I haven't really had to do this yet. I thought it'd be good to have 2 EVSE in case one gets lost, stolen, breaks etc.3) If I buy a new approved EVSE in Canada I can get 50% government rebate, For example I found these: https://www.autochargers.ca/products/ae ... -dual.html. https://suncountryhighway.ca/store/SCH1 ... -p57652028

I like the Duosida one as well per your recommendations, I may just get that, still seems to be less.

4) 12A should be sufficient for my daily charging needs, Right now on days when I run the car down to 2 bars or less, there's not enough time to fully charge and balance the cells.

I am first looking into 240V as preheating/precooling seems to be very weak on 120V/8A. I've used the defrost all winter and it didn't make much of a difference. I've been testing precooling as the weather has been warmer the past few weeks and again I barely feel any A/C as well. I'll have to search around the forum but I don't think 12A will make a huge difference here. I've seen the heater pull way more than 1.4kW on Cani0n. I tested pre-heating on public L2 chargers a few times and the inside of the car became toasty warm if I let it run and I want that

Right now my plan is to have an electrician come by and see how much it would be to install a 240V outlet in the garage. Talking with our landlord, some other people installed extra outlets in the garage(for a heater) and they didn't have to cut open any walls so I may do this if its easy. I only have a 125A panel and the house is electric heated so I am also not sure if my panel is maxed out with all the baseboard heaters. I'd only need a 20A circuit, hopefully they don't need to upgrade the panel or insist on a subpanel in the garage etc.

If that doesn't work I'll get an adjustable 120V EVSE until we move and just survive on the weak preheating/precooling.

Thanks Don.I bought one. With recent eBay coupon and Chase PayPal cashbacks. I got it for $160 total, cheaper than doing the EVSE upgrade, and I can still have the OEM one for backup.I have a dedicated 20amp outlet in my garage. I will convert it to 240v.The seller said it doesn't support 120v.They shipped out and responded very quickly.

They told me that too, but . . . . they sell an absolutely identical unit with a 5-15 plug on it that they claim is for 120 volts only (though their eBay auction also advertises it as 'L2') so I'm wondering if there are any internal difference at all?? If I needed it for L1/L2 use, I guess I'd probably open it up and have a look inside. The only real difference would be if the little DC power supply in it was rated for a 90 to 250 volts input or not. Most of them usually are. I *suspect* you could probably plug it into 120 volts and it would work . . . . but I wouldn't advise doing so unless you're going to open it up and have a look around

I received the new 240v EVSE in a week. Quick shipping.I converted my outlet to 240v this morning and switched from the OEM EVSE to the 240v in the middle to charge to full.One thing I noticed is that I think this 240v EVSE does not have auto shut off after the car battery is full.I only charged the car to full once using the OEM EVSE, but I remember the charge light turned off automatically when the car is full. This 240v EVSE does not turn off the charge light until I unplugged from the car.

@Don did you see the same thing?

I decided to hit the turtle mode last night on purpose to see for myself so that I can tell the wife. I was nervous though.The range was 38 miles when I had half battery left before my 36 miles trip. But I knew I might not make it back because it was mostly freeway and then uphill on the way back with mostly freeway too.I killed 14 miles on the range after drove 18 miles mostly freeway but with down hill to my destination.And I had 24 miles left. I need 18 miles back, but I knew I won’t make it with driving uphill and high speed on freeway. So I decided to take all local roads to get back, but it is 4 miles further, so 22 miles total. But still, a lot of up hills. There is a free charge L2 station 3 miles from my house and also on the way. So I decided to drive there instead of the othe charge station 6 miles away to get to turtle mode. I hit the turtle mode 1 miles from the charge station. It was all up hills, so I was nervous, but I know I can make it. I drove only 25mph (35 speed limit, road mostly empty two lanes, so it was fine) on the last 3 miles or so going up hill to the charge station with my emergency light on . Although I saw someone said we can drive probably 5 miles or so on turtle, but I wouldn’t think I can get back home 4 miles away with all up hill.The last 5 miles was killing my range because of going up. I actually had 8 miles left on the dashboard, but I killed all of it after driving for only 4 miles although below speed limit. High elevation (3500ft ele) probably affected it I think. I don’t think I would do it again.There are a lot free L2 charge stations around my house and 24 hours. The closest one is 3 miles. I probably can get charged for free all the time by leaving the car there for few hours and either ride a bike or small e-scooter home and back to pick up the car.Gas price has been going up, I am glad that I bought aan EV.

harrylv wrote:One thing I noticed is that I think this 240v EVSE does not have auto shut off after the car battery is full.I only charged the car to full once using the OEM EVSE, but I remember the charge light turned off automatically when the car is full. This 240v EVSE does not turn off the charge light until I unplugged from the car.

@Don did you see the same thing?

Honestly, I didn't notice. I have it charging the Volt right now, so I'll let you know later tonight

The 'Charge' light is actually labeled 'Charge/Ready' so I suspect what's happening is that it is turning off and going from Charge mode to Ready mode, which results in the same green light being on. If your EVSE is actually staying connected to the car then you should hear the relay click off when you press the button on the charge handle - If that's not happening, then it must have turned off when the charge was complete

Mine gets pretty warm, especially the 14 gauge input pigtail. I cut off the 6-20P plug that came on it and replaced it with an L6-20 Twist Lock. The plug and socket are staying cool. I'm running it on 16 amps